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HBO's 'Silicon Valley' is full of funny, clever peaks

Silicon ValleyHBO, Sunday, 10 ET/PT**** out of four How great is this Valley. There are a host of good sitcoms on the air today, but a show that is smart, true, authentic, emotionally resonant and — here's

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HBO's 'Silicon Valley' is full of funny, clever peaks

Richard (Thomas Middleditch, left), a brilliant, socially inept computer programmer, starts out living in a business-incubator hostel but starts his own company, based on a coveted compression algorithm.(Photo: Jaimie Trueblood HBO)

There are a host of good sitcoms on the air today, but a show that is smart, true, authentic, emotionally resonant and — here's the kicker — laugh-out-loud funny, well, that's a show that's worth using a search engine to find. And that's just the show you're getting from Silicon Valley (* * * * out of four; Sunday, 10 p.m. ET/PT), the next great comic work from Mike Judge, who already gave us Office Space, Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill.

Like all good series, this eight-episode paean to techno-geek entrepreneurs is reliably well-acted, and like most HBO comedies, it's extremely well-observed, from its jokes about involuntary/voluntary corporate retreats and "revenge hires" to its main geek character struggling to spit like the tough guys. But the ability it has to make you actually laugh, not just when you watch it, but days later as you recall the jokes — well, that's something very few HBO comedies even attempt, let alone accomplish. And with times as they are, that's something to cherish.

As the name suggests, Silicon Valley dives deeply into the Google-ish world of website programmers and tech-start-up millionaires — a prosperous land where lavish parties are seeded with actors to provide eye candy. (Asked who the actors are, a beautiful girl answers "pretty much anyone that's over a '7' is with us, and anyone that's under a '3' is a guest.") Luckily, though, it is not necessary to have written code, or even know what "code" is, to enjoy the show. Anyone who knows people or office politics should find something here that seems familiar.

Our guide to the valley is Richard (Thomas Middleditch), a brilliant, socially inept computer programmer who lives in a business-incubator hostel run by Ehrlich (T.J. Miller). Richard has created a website no one wants that's based on a compression algorithm everyone desires — so much so that it sparks a bidding war between his wildly self-aggrandizing boss, Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) and a people-phobic investor, Peter Gregory (Christopher Evan Welch).

What follows are Richard's attempts to launch his own company, Pied Piper, with the often unwanted aid of Ehrlich and the more desired support of Big Head (Josh Brener), Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) and Jared (Zach Woods). And if in the process, Richard can become closer to Peter's beautiful assistant Monica (Amanda Crew), that would no doubt be a bonus.

Each of the five episodes made available for preview brings Pied Piper a step closer to life, though whether that life proves to be successful is open to question. And almost every one features some marvelous set piece, such as Big Head's discovery of a secret sect of the "currently unassigned," or Ehrlich's determination to create an edgy new logo — an effort that finds him stumbling hilariously through a minefield of racist stereotypes.

In an excellent ensemble, the early standouts are Middleditch, who makes us feel every inch of Richard's fear and elation, and Welch — who, I'm sad to say, died while the sixth episode was being shot, leaving a hole the series will be hard-pressed to fill. But there isn't an actor or character you won't look forward to seeing again, and that includes those you may initially resist. Each is allowed to be right or wrong, each could exist in the world as we know it, and each can be uproariously funny in his or her own way.